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AdvocacyNet
Fellow Update
August 13, 2008
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Thirty-four Peace Fellows are volunteering this summer in 21 countries or territories with community-based partners of The Advocacy Project (AP). AP issues a weekly digest of their blogs.

 

Highlights:

Teaching Despite Taboos in Nepal
Fujimori At Center of Peru's Political Unrest
Fighting Forced Sterilization in the Czech Republic
Peace Before Equality in Palestine
Poverty Doesn't Define Kenyan Children
Women Confront Serbia's Violent Past
Compensation Overdue for Displaced Families in Guatemala
Explosion Evokes Memories of War in Nepal
Threat of New Conflict Causes Worry in Ethiopia

 

Excerpts:

 

Teaching Despite Taboos in Nepal
Libby Abbott (Brown University) is advocating for women's rights with the Uterine Prolapse Alliance in Nepal.
"Nandu went through her homemade posters about the definition of a uterus, the definition of uterine prolapse, its symptoms, and the way it is caused. Although the men in the room had self-segregated to the very back of the room and represented a mere quarter of the participants, even they seemed to be interested as Nandu fearlessly detailed a condition that is so frequently treated with silence and taboos."

 

Fujimori At Center of Peru's Political Unrest
Ash Kosiewicz (Georgetown University) is working with the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) in Lima, Peru.
"The Peruvian political landscape is in flux. Weeks after Fujimori loyalists, or Fujimoristas, broke ranks with opposition forces within the National Congress to help Peruvian President Alan Garcia's APRA party win the presidency of the Congress in a 66-46 vote, the cushy relationship between Garcia loyalists, or Apristas, and Fujimoristas is causing some to cry foul. Surprise firings, secret meetings, an alleged abuse of power. Fujimori is at the center of it all."

 

Fighting Forced Sterilization in the Czech Republic
Colby Pacheco (UC San Diego) is working on Romani rights with the Dzeno Association in Prague, the Czech Republic.
"While Elena was in the throes of labor in the birthing room, in enormous pain and under the influence of sedatives, doctors gave her a piece of paper and told her, 'Sign this or you will die.' Trusting them, she signed without even reading the document [and] as she later said, 'At that moment, I would have signed my own death warrant.'... This was not an isolated occurence in the Czech Republic and to this day the Czech Government refuses to acknowledge any incidents of coercive sterilization against Roma women."

 

Peace Before Equality in Palestine
Hannah Wright (Bristol University) is working with the Women's Affairs Technical Committee in Ramallah, Palestine.
"I asked her whether she thinks men and women view the conflict with Israel differently: 'Women believe more in peace, in dialogue, not fighting. Palestinian women have two goals. One is to free the country. The other is to free the women. We are still working on both of these goals.' In contrast to other WATC activists, Ibtessam personally believes that before women can fully achieve equality with men, Palestinians must claim their rights as a nation of citizens. 'We cannot ask Palestinian men for our freedom if they are not free themselves. We have to free the whole society first and then we can ask for freedom for women.'"

 

Poverty Doesn't Define Kenyan Children
Kristina Rosinsky (University of Maryland) is teaching photography and blogging to street children with the Undugu Society of Kenya.
"They are the ones collecting recyclables on the sides of the streets, selling sweets, eggs and other small goods and the ones who are too poor to afford the costs associated with 'free' primary education, bus fare or even lunch. However, they are also the people who hold my hand when crossing the street, share their snacks and candy with me, play with my hair, joke around with me and make sure that my bag is zipped all the way when we are out in the field. They've shown me that their defining characteristics are not that they are 'poor and marginalized' but rather generous, fun and caring."

 

Women Confront Serbia's Violent Past
Janet Rabin (Georgetown University) is working with the Women in Black Network-Serbia in Belgrade, Serbia.
"As we drank some of the most delicious Turkish-style coffee I've ever had, the women talked. As usual, I understood only a tiny percentage of what was being said; but I could tell that the Bosnian women were talking, and the Serbian women were listening. As our hosts' eyes filled with tears, I knew that they were talking about their lost friends and relatives, whose pictures adorned the walls of the dining room across the hall. I was witnessing the feminist approach to confronting the past in action."

 

Compensation Overdue for Displaced Families in Guatemala
Heidi McKinnon (University of New Mexico) is working with the Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of Violence in the Verapaces, Maya Achi (ADIVIMA) in Rabinal, Guatemala.
"Representatives of the electric company, INDE, and the Commission of Energy and Mines have been taking a small tour of the affected communities on their own...INDE representatives have most likely not visited most of these communities in twenty-five years, much less offered them any new 'incentives' like solar electricity. Apparently, electricity from Chixoy is too difficult to for INDE bring to these rural villages, although they had no trouble displacing these families to build the largest hydroelectric facility in the country right in their backyard."

 

Explosion Evokes Memories of War in Nepal
Heather Gilberds (Carleton University) is advocating for Dalit rights with the Jagaran Media Center (JMC) in Bhutwal, Nepal.
"We looked out the front door to see escalating commotion and came to discover that it was not a bomb, but a gas leak in the tandoori oven which had caused an explosion in the kitchen... In the big scheme of things, this was a fairly minor incident. No one was seriously injured and we left unscathed. However, in speaking with my companions, each one had expressed that they had initially thought that the explosion was a bomb. Uma said that it sounded exactly like the first night the Maoists entered her hometown during the People’s War."

 

Threat of New Conflict Causes Worry in Ethiopia
Lucas Wolf (Universidad del Salvador) is working with Landmine Survivors Network-Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
"The possibility of renewed conflict raises the specter of a potential marked increase in conflict survivors. A fairly obvious but ominous equation. As Ethiopia struggles to meet the basic needs (food, water, shelter) of large sectors of its population...any kind of war footing that either country takes could have drastic consequences for the general population. Additionally, LSN-Ethiopia has come to see veterans of combat as a crucial survivor group. Many injured and disabled veterans fell through the cracks in the system after serving their country courageously."

 

Bosnia Reflects on Karadzic's Arrest
Shweta Dewan (Columbia University) is promoting the Srebrenica Memorial Quilt with the Bosnian Family (BOSFAM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"Karadzic's arrest did not seem to bring about as many visible reactions as I had expected. Although it was very noticeable in Sarajevo and Belgrade, Tuzla and Srebrenica were fairly quiet about it. On the news though, one individual was asked what he hoped for Karadzic. He replied that he wanted him to have a very long life, and for two hours each day, be shown graphic videos of all the destruction and killing his decisions and leadership had on Bosnia."